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Cardiac hypertrophy is a key factor driving heart failure (HF), yet its pathogenesis remains incompletely elucidated. Mettl1‐catalyzed RNA N7‐methylguanosine (m7G) modification has been implicated in ischemic cardiac injury and fibrosis. This study aims to elucidate the role of Mettl1 and the mechanism underlying non‐ischemic cardiac hypertrophy and HF. It is found that Mettl1 is upregulated in human failing hearts and hypertrophic murine hearts following transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and Angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion. YY1 acts as a transcriptional factor for Mettl1 during cardiac hypertrophy. Mettl1 knockout alleviates cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction upon pressure overload from TAC or Ang II stimulation. Conversely, cardiac‐specific overexpression of Mettl1 results in cardiac remodeling. Mechanically, Mettl1 increases SRSF9 expression by inducing m7G modification of SRSF9 mRNA, facilitating alternative splicing and stabilization of NFATc4, thereby promoting cardiac hypertrophy. Moreover, the knockdown of SRSF9 protects against TAC‐ or Mettl1‐induced cardiac hypertrophic phenotypes in vivo and in vitro. The study identifies Mettl1 as a crucial regulator of cardiac hypertrophy, providing a novel therapeutic target for HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stretchable conductors (SCs) have garnered significant attention in both academia and industry, owing to their promising applications in flexible electronics. However, achieving a highly resilient and rapidly rebounding SC that enables prompt electrical response to applied strain, while also being fully recyclable and self‐healable, remains a challenge. Here, the design and preparation of a high‐performance SC based on a small bio‐molecule (α‐Lipoic acid) are reported, using a straightforward, cost‐effective, and scalable method. The engineered SC exhibits a ≈100% rebound ratio and fast rebound speed (≈0.4 s) under repeated high strains, along with outstanding electrical sensitivity to both deformation and temperature variation. This ensures that the SC possesses high precision and real‐time sensing attributes. Moreover, the SC features high optical transparency (>97%), robust reversible adhesion to diverse surfaces (up to 5.0 MPa), efficient room‐temperature self‐healing properties, and full recyclability. The superior properties of the SC are fundamentally attributed to the installed hierarchical dynamic bonding at the molecular level, which enables continuous energy dissipation and is analyzed through DFT calculations. The developed SC holds great potential for applications in soft electronics and human–machine interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of posterior internal fixation with open vertebroplasty (VP) and posterior internal fixation with open kyphoplasty (KP) in the treatment of metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) with posterior wall destruction. Methods: This retrospective study, conducted between January 2016 and May 2019, equally divided 60 patients with MESCC and posterior wall destruction into two groups based on the surgical method: open vertebroplasty with pedicle screw fixation (VP group) and open kyphoplasty with pedicle screw fixation (KP group). Visual analogue scale (VAS), SF‐36 scores, middle vertebral height (MVH), and posterior vertebral height (PVH) were evaluated for the two groups preoperatively, postoperatively, and 1 year after surgery. Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score, Frankel grades and complications were recorded and evaluated. Results: Five patients were excluded from the analysis, and our study cohort consisted of 55 adult patients who met the inclusion criteria. The VAS and SF‐36 scores of these two groups of patients significantly improved, when compared with those before the surgery (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in total cost (8835 ± 1468 vs 9540 ± 053 USD) and cement volume (4.51 ± 0.96 ml vs 6.35 ± 1.09 ml) between two groups (P < 0.05). The MVH and PVH of these two groups of patients significantly improved, when compared with those before the surgery (P < 0.05). The MVH was significantly larger in the KP group than in the VP group postoperatively (20.15 ± 4.86 vs 17.70 ± 3.78, P < 0.05) and at the final follow‐up (20.42 ± 5.59 vs 17.28 ± 3.23, P < 0.05). However, the PVH of the two groups did not significantly differ at the two postoperative follow‐ups (P > 0.05). No significant differences were found in surgery time, time from surgery to discharge, blood loss and complications between both groups postoperatively (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In the short term, both approaches are effective and safe in patients with MESCC and posterior wall destruction. The posterior internal fixation with open VP may be a good choice of surgical method in patients with MESCC and posterior wall defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compartmentalization of chemo‐ and enzymatic reactions is an elegant strategy for one‐pot synthesis while avoiding reaction incompatibility issues. However, chemoenzymatic compartments developed to date are limited to complicated preparation. Herein, a simple, catalytically active polymer that stabilizes diverse types of emulsions for the encapsulation of active enzymes is presented. This design combines two distinct catalysts for cascade reaction while creating separate micro‐environments with a large interfacial area for high reactivity. Moreover, the system is developed for solvent‐free reactions, benefiting the "green" synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the noncooperative attitude tracking control problem for rigid bodies whose dynamics evolves on the rotation matrix SO(3). First, based on the relative attitude measurement, a saturated angular velocity input is designed by a proposed saturated nonlinear function. Thereafter, the attitude tracking control torque for rigid body's dynamics with input saturation constraint and active disturbance rejection is developed by a modified dynamic surface control approach which can avoid large torque in practice. Furthermore, by using only relative attitude measurements, two types of velocity‐free attitude control laws are considered, respectively. In contrast to those control schemes that require that the desired angular velocity is available to the rigid body, the proposed scheme is able to solve the attitude control in noncooperative scenarios, where the desired angular velocity and acceleration are not accessible. Since the attitude described by rotation matrix SO(3) enables the controller to use local measurements in the body‐fixed frame rather than global measurements in an inertial frame, the proposed robust noncooperative control schemes with input saturation constraint are easier to implement in practice. Finally, numerical simulations and SimMechanics experiments are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an anticalin that could specifically bind paraquat (PQ), a quaternary nitrogen herbicide, as a new set of engineered receptor protein with antibody‐like properties was generated to detect PQ concentration. To this end, a native and random library was constructed and engineered to allow in vitro transcription and translation using an Escherichia coli lysate system. Meanwhile, a PQ derivative that carries an active aliphatic carboxylate group at the end of an aliphatic spacer arm was synthesized. Then, this compound was coupled covalently to the carrier protein bovine serum albumin/ovalbumin and amino‐functionalized paramagnetic beads. Alternating selection in solution and immobilization in microtiter wells were used to pan mRNA–ribosome–antibody complexes. After several rounds of ribosome display, three variants were selected from a random library of the bilin‐binding protein. The variants that could bind complex PQ with high affinity and exhibit IC50 values as low as 14.039 ± 0.970 ng/mL were identified. Moreover, the limits of detection reached 0.083 ± 0.011 ng/mL. Our data suggest that the generation of anticalins may provide a promising alternative to recombinant antibody fragments to create a stable receptor protein against hapten with bioanalytical relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we proposed several disturbance observer‐based matrix‐weighted consensus algorithms. A new disturbance observer is firstly designed for linear systems with unknown matched or mismatched disturbances representable as the multiplication of a known time‐varying matrix with a unknown constant vector. Under some assumptions on the boundedness and persistent excitation of the regression matrix, the disturbances can be estimated at an exponential rate. Then, a suitable compensation input is provided to compensate the unknown disturbances. Second, disturbance‐observer based consensus algorithms are proposed for matrix‐weighted networks of single‐ and double‐integrators with matched or mismatched disturbances. We show that both matched and mismatched disturbances can be estimated and actively compensated, and the consensus system uniformly globally asymptotically converges to a fixed point in the kernel of the matrix‐weighted Laplacian. Depending on the network connectivity, the system can asymptotically achieve a consensus or a cluster configuration. The disturbance‐observer based consensus design is further extended for a network of higher‐order integrators subjected to disturbances. Finally, simulation results are provided to support the mathematical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multienzyme cascade biocatalysis is an efficient synthetic process, avoiding the isolation/purification of intermediates and shifting the reaction equilibrium to the product side.. However, multienzyme systems are often limited by their incompatibility and cross‐reactivity. Herein, we report a multi‐responsive emulsion to proceed multienzyme reactions sequentially for high reactivity. The emulsion is achieved using a CO2, pH, and thermo‐responsive block copolymer as a stabilizer, allowing the on‐demand control of emulsion morphology and phase composition. Applying this system to a three‐step cascade reaction enables the individual optimal condition for each enzyme, and a high overall conversion (ca. 97 % of the calculated limit) is thereby obtained. Moreover, the multi‐responsiveness of the emulsion allows the facile and separate yielding/recycling of products, polymers and active enzymes. Besides, the system could be scaled up with a good yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonaqueous Pickering emulsions (PEs) are a powerful platform for catalysis design, offering both a large interface contact and a preferable environment for water‐sensitive synthesis. However, up to now, little progress has been made to incorporate insoluble enzymes into the nonaqueous system for biotransformation. Herein, we present biocatalytically active nonaqueous PEs, stabilized by particle‐enzyme nanoconjugates, for the fast transesterification and esterification, and eventually for biodiesel synthesis. Our nanoconjugates are the hybrid biocatalysts tailor‐made by loading hydrophilic Candida antarctica lipase B onto hydrophobic silica nanoparticles, resulting in not only catalytically active but highly amphiphilic particles for stabilization of a methanol‐decane emulsion. The enzyme activity in these PEs is significantly enhanced, ca. 375‐fold higher than in the nonaqueous biphasic control. Moreover, the PEs can be multiply reused without significant loss of enzyme performance. With this proof‐of‐concept, this system can be expanded for many advanced syntheses using different enzymes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bis(5‐amino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐4‐ium‐3‐yl)methane dinitrate, BATZM·(NO3)2 or C5H10N82+·2NO3−, was synthesized and its crystal structure determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. It crystallizes in the space group Pbcn (orthorhombic) with Z = 4. BATZM·(NO3)2 is a V‐shaped molecule where hydrogen bonds form a two‐dimensional corrugated sheet with reasonable chemical geometry and no disorder. The specific molar heat capacity (Cp,m) of BATZM·(NO3)2 was determined using the continuous Cp mode of a microcalorimeter and theoretical calculations, and the Cp,m value is 366.14 J K−1 mol−1 at 298.15 K. The relative deviations between the theoretical and experimental values of Cp,m, HT – H298.15K and ST – S298.15K of BATZM·(NO3)2 are almost equivalent at each temperature. The detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) were estimated using the nitrogen equivalent equation according to the experimental density; BATZM·(NO3)2 has a higher detonation velocity (7927.47 ± 3.63 m s−1) and detonation pressure (27.50 ± 0.03 GPa) than 2,4,6‐trinitrotoluene (TNT). The above results for BATZM·(NO3)2 are compared with those of bis(5‐amino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methane (BATZM) and bis(5‐amino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐4‐ium‐3‐yl)methane dihydrochloride (BATZM·Cl2), and the effect of nitrate formation is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bis(4,5‐diamino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methane monohydrate (BDATZM·H2O or C5H10N10·H2O) was synthesized and its crystal structure characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction; it belongs to the space group P (triclinic) with Z = 2. The structure of BDATZM·H2O can be described as a two‐dimensional ladder plane with extensive hydrogen bonding and no disorder. The thermal behaviour was studied under non‐isothermal conditions by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric/differential thermogravimetric (TG/DTG) methods. The detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) of BDATZM were estimated using the nitrogen equivalent equation according to the experimental density. A comparison between BDATZM·H2O and bis(5‐amino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methane (BATZM) was made to determine the effect of the amino group; the results suggest that the amino group increases the hydrophilicity, space utilization and energy, and decreases the thermal stability and symmetry of the resulting compound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The distributed tracking control for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems with a dynamic leader is investigated in this article via the event‐triggered approach. Only a portion of followers have access to the leader, and the communication topology among all agents is directed that contains a directed spanning tree rooted at the leader. The case that the leader's generalized velocity is constant is first considered, and a distributed event‐based control law is developed by using a velocity estimator. When the leader's generalized velocity is time‐varying, novel distributed continuous estimators are proposed to avoid the undesirable chattering effect while guaranteeing that the estimate errors converge to zeros. With the designed distributed estimators, another distributed event‐based control protocol is provided. Controller update frequency and resource consumption in our work can be reduced by applying the aforementioned two distributed control laws, and the tracking errors can converge to zeros. In addition, it is rigorously proved that no agent exhibits Zeno behavior. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed distributed event‐based control laws is elucidated by a number of simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bis(5‐amino‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methane (BATZM, C5H8N8) was synthesized and its crystal structure characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction; it belongs to the space group Fdd2 (orthorhombic) with Z = 8. The structure of BATZM can be described as a V‐shaped molecule with reasonable chemical geometry and no disorder. The specific molar heat capacity (Cp,m) of BATZM was determined using the continuous Cp mode of a microcalorimeter and theoretical calculations, and the Cp,m value is 211.19 J K−1 mol−1 at 298.15 K. The relative deviations between the theoretical and experimental values of Cp,m, HT – H298.15K and ST – S298.15K of BATZM are almost equivalent at each temperature. The detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) of BATZM were estimated using the nitrogen equivalent equation according to the experimental density; BATZM has a higher detonation velocity (7954.87 ± 3.29 m s−1) and detonation pressure (25.72 ± 0.03 GPa) than TNT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper focuses on the event‐based distributed robust leaderless synchronization control for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems with directed communication topology that contains a directed spanning tree. Update frequency of the system is reduced by taking advantages of the event‐triggered approach, which can help extend the service life of the controller. Robust control theory is employed to guarantee the synchronization stability of the networked Euler‐Lagrange systems when unmodeled dynamics occur. The cost on the distributed synchronization protocol design can be saved due to the relaxation of the requirement on relative velocity measurements. Furthermore, our results are more practical because unknown disturbance is taken into consideration. In addition, it can be rigorously analyzed that each agent can exclude the undesired Zeno behavior. Some simulation examples are provided in the end to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed event‐based distributed robust control algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, we discuss quantization effects in rigid formation control systems when target formations are described by interagent distances. Because of practical sensing and measurement constraints, we consider in this paper distance measurements in their quantized forms. We show that under gradient‐based formation control, in the case of uniform quantization, the distance errors converge locally to a bounded set whose size depends on the quantization error, while in the case of logarithmic quantization, all distance errors converge locally to zero. A special quantizer involving the signum function is then considered with which all agents can only measure coarse distances in terms of binary information. In this case, the formation converges locally to a target formation within a finite time. Lastly, we discuss the effect of asymmetric uniform quantization on rigid formation control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid development of Pickering interfacial catalysis (PIC) at liquid–liquid interfaces with chemocatalysts, the use of unstable biocatalysts at emulsion interfaces remains a technical challenge. Herein, we present a Pickering interfacial biocatalysis (PIB) platform based on robust and recyclable enzyme–polymer conjugates that act as both catalytic sites and stabilizers at the interface of Pickering emulsions. The conjugates were prepared by growing poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) on a fragile enzyme, benzaldehyde lyase, under physiological conditions. The mild in situ conjugation process preserved the enzyme structure, and the conjugates were used to emulsify a water–organic two‐phase system into a stable Pickering emulsion, leading to a significantly larger interfacial area and a 270‐fold improvement in catalytic performance as compared to the unemulsified two‐phase system. The PIB system could be reused multiple times. Conjugates of other enzymes were also fabricated and applied for cascade reactions. Gentle giants: Enzyme–polymer conjugates were created that acted simultaneously as catalytic sites and stabilizers at the interface of Pickering emulsions to enable effective Pickering interfacial biocatalysis (PIB; see picture, ATRP=atom‐transfer radical polymerization). The extraordinarily large contact area of the system contributed to the efficiency of the biotransformations in both single‐ and multiple‐step reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the existing results on distributed distance-constrained rigid formation control establish asymptotic or exponential convergence. To further improve the convergence rate, we explain in this paper how to modify existing gradient controllers to obtain finite time stability. For point agents modeled by single integrators, the controllers proposed in this paper drive the whole formation to locally converge to a desired shape with finite settling time. We also show for undirected triangular formation shape control, if all the agents start with non-collinear positions, then the formation will converge to the desired shape in finite time. For agents modeled by double integrators, the proposed controllers allow all agents to both achieve the same velocity and reach a desired shape in finite time. All controllers are totally distributed. Simulations are also provided to validate the proposed control strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The saponins from the pericarps of Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn. (Sapindaceae) are attracting more and more attention because of their antimicrobial activity and their ability to act as a natural surfactant. However, the color of Sapindus pericarp extract is dark brown, which limits its application in some products. The present study aims to improve the color by adding hydrogen peroxide. An orthogonal L (3) test design was applied to optimize the decolorization parameters, including the amount of added hydrogen peroxide, time, temperature and pH. The extent of decolorization was up to 89.5 % below 80 °C within 80 min, using 2.5 % hydrogen peroxide at pH 6. The characteristics of Sapindus pericarp extract before and after bleaching were compared, including the antimicrobial and foaming performance, surface activities and detergency properties. There was no significant difference in either the diameters of the inhibition zone or the minimum inhibitory concentration against Candida albicans, Trichophyton rubrum and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( P < 0.05), while these parameters for C. albicans, T. rubrum and P. aeruginosa for the sample after decolorization were 22.33, 25.00, 15.33 mm and 0.91, 0.91, 13.03 mg/mL, respectively. The foamability of the Sapindus pericarp extract after decolorization was somewhat enhanced and the foam stability reduced ( P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in values of the critical micelle concentration of the pericarp extract before and after decolorization. The detergency also remained at the same level. Our results show that the properties of the decolorized Sapindus pericarp extract were largely unchanged. This suggests that further development is worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]